


Ghost of You

by Bittersweet (Tsuskasa_Hirokumo)



Category: Next Gen (2018)
Genre: Drabble, Friendship/Love, Gen, Memory Loss, Post-Canon, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 18:58:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15978434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuskasa_Hirokumo/pseuds/Bittersweet
Summary: Sometimes, when it's quiet, 7723 gets...flickers.





	Ghost of You

Sometimes, when it’s quiet, 7723 gets...flickers. Faint images, like ghosts, fading in and out of his vision. Sometimes they’re loud and unmistakable, bright splashes of color and sound across his visor. And sometimes they’re whispers, ones that disappear without a trace as if they weren’t there at all.

But always, always they’re of Mai.

When he gets them, he’s left troubled. Something deep within him aches, and he wants so badly to know what these phantoms of Mai are. When he’s alone in his shed, he searches for them. He goes through every core system, every file, every memory, looking for a trace.

He never finds anything, but he thinks he knows there should be.

One night, when it gets bad, where all he can feel is this painful ache like some part of him is missing, he goes to her. Flies to her window and taps on the glass. When she answers, he doesn’t know what to say.

But then she asks what’s wrong, and he tells her about them. At first she seems a bit confused, but when he tells her of a ratty cat backpack, she brings him inside, and sits him down on her bed, and tells him to give her everything.

So he does. He tells Mai of his ghost of her, how she haunts him every night. He tells her of smiles and tears, of bruises and baseball bats. By the end of it all she’s crying, and he doesn’t know why but he holds her hand and hugs her.

Then she tells him their story, and he mourns. He mourns the him that met her for the first time. He mourns the him that held these ghosts as truth. And he mourns the him that earned her love.

But then, she hugs him back, and tells him that it’s ok, and that she loves this him too. The one that likes to play soccer with her friends. The one that sometimes tries to shoot other robots. The one that’s beat up and covered with cracks and band-aids. The one that’s with her now.

The ache inside him dulls, and he holds her close. “I love you.” He whispers into the night, long after she’s asleep. The ghost of her appears, but it’s quiet this time. A smile into the night sky, a small hand holding his, and a rainbow light dancing around them. He dwells in it, living in this lost memory for just a little while longer.

Then she looks up at him and smiles, and he tells the ghost of her goodbye. The rainbow sky fades into the dark of the bedroom, and 7723 lies down and closes his eyes with a smile.

He feels Mai’s warmth, and the tickle of her hair, and the feel of her hand in his, and he’s content with being here.

**Author's Note:**

> I watched the movie about an hour ago, and felt the need to write about my feelings haha. I loved the movie, and its' emphasis on the importance of memories, so I wanted to express those in words.


End file.
